NRO Says It's Israel's Fault
The right side of the blogosphere is all astir (see also here and here and here) over a National Review article by Barbara Lerner which attacks Sharon for endangering the US by disengaging from Gaza.
We're not sure why this is getting such an enthusiastic pass from bloggers who are normally very suspicious of when people try to blame Israel for Muslim fanaticism. Well OK, we know exactly why - these particular bloggers don't like Sharon's particular policy, and they're willing to lay out all the possible reasons why disengagement might be a bad idea. But the people who are always willing to call out people who say that Israel's occupation endangers US security should be a little more careful before saying that Israel's disengagement will endanger US security. Palestinian terrorists are to blame for Palestinian terrorism, and the Israelis who try to live in the midst of that terrorism deserve sympathy and help - not what Lerner is doing, which is essentially demanding that Israeli soldiers keep dying so that Americans can feel safer:
The Israeli retreat from Gaza - now scheduled for August 17 0 wasn't George Bush's idea. It was Ariel Sharon's... The president has other things on his Middle Eastern plate: a stubborn, bloody war in Iraq; looming deadlines with regard to Iranian nukes; a deadly flow of international jihadists through Syria into Iraq and Lebanon; fanaticism and instability in oil-rich Saudi Arabia; and restless decay in populous Egypt, where the mass following of the Muslim Brotherhood is a looming danger...
But Gaza isn't Eden, and this isn't the apple of knowledge. It's a Rohypnol-like apple of ignorance, and it is blinding us to the danger America faces - a danger our Islamofascist enemies see clearly and are primed to take advantage of. We think Gaza is all about Israel and the Palestinians; our enemies know it's mainly about us.
Disingenuous and misleading. President Bush alternates between occasionally selling Israel out to the Muslim world and constantly (and we do mean constantly) pressuing Sharon diplomatically - and suddenly it's Sharon's fault that he feels the need to cut his losses, get, out of Gaza now, and saving what he can of the West Bank.
Nobody denies that Israelis and Americans share the dangers of Islamic terrorism - and that Israel and American have and will continue to help and even to make sacrifices for each other. Nonetheless, it seems somewhat less than generous to blame Israel for endangering Americans when Sharon is being driven by American pressure. Even if that were not the case, to pretend that Israelis are endangering Americans because they're acting in what they believe to be Israeli self-interest is the purview of the appeasement Left and the isolationist Right, not of supporters of Israel.
We're not sure why this is getting such an enthusiastic pass from bloggers who are normally very suspicious of when people try to blame Israel for Muslim fanaticism. Well OK, we know exactly why - these particular bloggers don't like Sharon's particular policy, and they're willing to lay out all the possible reasons why disengagement might be a bad idea. But the people who are always willing to call out people who say that Israel's occupation endangers US security should be a little more careful before saying that Israel's disengagement will endanger US security. Palestinian terrorists are to blame for Palestinian terrorism, and the Israelis who try to live in the midst of that terrorism deserve sympathy and help - not what Lerner is doing, which is essentially demanding that Israeli soldiers keep dying so that Americans can feel safer:
The Israeli retreat from Gaza - now scheduled for August 17 0 wasn't George Bush's idea. It was Ariel Sharon's... The president has other things on his Middle Eastern plate: a stubborn, bloody war in Iraq; looming deadlines with regard to Iranian nukes; a deadly flow of international jihadists through Syria into Iraq and Lebanon; fanaticism and instability in oil-rich Saudi Arabia; and restless decay in populous Egypt, where the mass following of the Muslim Brotherhood is a looming danger...
But Gaza isn't Eden, and this isn't the apple of knowledge. It's a Rohypnol-like apple of ignorance, and it is blinding us to the danger America faces - a danger our Islamofascist enemies see clearly and are primed to take advantage of. We think Gaza is all about Israel and the Palestinians; our enemies know it's mainly about us.
Disingenuous and misleading. President Bush alternates between occasionally selling Israel out to the Muslim world and constantly (and we do mean constantly) pressuing Sharon diplomatically - and suddenly it's Sharon's fault that he feels the need to cut his losses, get, out of Gaza now, and saving what he can of the West Bank.
Nobody denies that Israelis and Americans share the dangers of Islamic terrorism - and that Israel and American have and will continue to help and even to make sacrifices for each other. Nonetheless, it seems somewhat less than generous to blame Israel for endangering Americans when Sharon is being driven by American pressure. Even if that were not the case, to pretend that Israelis are endangering Americans because they're acting in what they believe to be Israeli self-interest is the purview of the appeasement Left and the isolationist Right, not of supporters of Israel.
